Hermeneutics, Politics, and the History of Religions

The Contested Legacies of Joachim Wach and Mircea Eliade

Christian Wedemeyer and Wendy Doniger

Contributors to the volume are a renowned and diverse group of international scholars

Hermeneutics, Politics, and the History of Religions

The Contested Legacies of Joachim Wach and Mircea Eliade

Christian Wedemeyer and Wendy Doniger

Description

This volume comprises papers presented at a conference marking the 50th anniversary of Joachim Wach's death, and the centennial of Mircea Eliade's birth. Its purpose is to reconsider both the problematic, separate legacies of these two major twentieth-century historians of religions, and the bearing of these two legacies upon each other. Shortly after Wach's death in 1955, Eliade succeeded him as the premiere historian of religions at the University of Chicago. As a result, the two have been associated with each other in many people's minds as the successive leaders of the so-called "Chicago School" in the history of religions. In fact, as this volume makes clear, there never was a monolithic Chicago School. Although Wach reportedly referred to Eliade as the most
astute historian of religions of the day; the two never met, and their approaches to the study of religions differed significantly. Several dominant issues run through the essays collected here: the relationship between the two men's writings and their lives, and in Eliade's case, the relationship between his political commitments and his writings in fiction, history of religions, and autobiography. Both men's contributions to the field continue to provoke controversy and debate, and this volume sheds new light on these controversies and what they reveal about these two `scholars' legacies.

Hermeneutics, Politics, and the History of Religions

The Contested Legacies of Joachim Wach and Mircea Eliade

Christian Wedemeyer and Wendy Doniger

Table of Contents

AcknowledgmentsIntroduction I: Two Scholars, a Christian K. WedemeyerIntroduction II: Life and Art, or Politics and Religion, in the Writings of Mircea EliadeWendy DonigerPart One: Joachim Wach: Contexts, Categories, and ControversyHans G. Kippenberg-Joachim Wach between the George-Circle and Weber's Typology of Religious CommunitiesSteven M. Wasserstrom-The Master-Interpreter: Notes on the German Career of Joachim Wach (1922-1935)Gregory D. Alles-After the Naming Explosion: Joachim Wach's Unfinished ProjectCharles S. Preston-Wach, Radhakrishnan, and RelativismPart Two: Mircea Eliade: Literature and PoliticsMatei Calinescu-Eliade and Ionesco in the Post-World War II Years: Questions of Identity
in ExileDaniel Dubuisson-The Poetical and Rhetorical Structure of the Eliadean Text: A Contribution to Critical Theory and Discourses on ReligionsAntoine Faivre-Modern Western Esoteric Currents in the Work of Mircea Eliade: The Extent and Limits of their PresenceMoshe Idel-The Camouflaged Sacred in Mircea Eliade's Self-Perception, Literature, and ScholarshipBryan Rennie-The Influence of Eastern Orthodox Christian Theology on Mircea Eliade's Understanding of ReligionJonathan Z. Smith-The Eternal DeferralPart Three: Mircea Eliade: Politics and LiteratureFlorin Turcanu-South-East Europe and the Idea of the History of Religions in Mircea EliadeElaine Fisher-Fascist Scholars, Fascist Scholarship: The Quest for Ur-Fascism and the Study of
ReligionAnne T. Mocko-Tracing the Red Thread: Anticommunist Themes in the Work of Mircea EliadeCarlo Ginzburg-Mircea Eliade's Ambivalent LegacyList of Contributors

Hermeneutics, Politics, and the History of Religions

The Contested Legacies of Joachim Wach and Mircea Eliade

Christian Wedemeyer and Wendy Doniger

Author Information

CKW: Assistant Professor of the History of Religions, University of Chicago Divinity School; WD: Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions, University of Chicago Divinity School

Contributors:

Gregory D. Alles is Professor of Religious Studies at McDaniel College; Matei Calinescu is Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature, English and West European Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington; Daniel Dubuisson is director of research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France and at l'Université Charles-de-Gaulle - Lille 3; Antoine Faivre is professor emeritus of history of western esoteric currents in modern and contemporary Europe at l'École Pratique des Hautes Études, Sciences Religieuses, Sorbonne; Elaine Fisher is a doctoral student in Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University; Carlo is Professor of History of European Cultures at Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa; Moshe Idel is the Max Cooper Professor
of Jewish Thought at Hebrew University in Jerusalem; Hans G. Kippenberg is 1998 Fellow of the Max-Weber-Kolleg, Erfurt; Anne T. Mocko is a doctoral student in the History of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School; Charles S. Preston is a doctoral student in History of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School; Bryan Rennie is Professor, Vira I. Heinz Chair of Religion, and Chair of the Department of Religion, History, Philosophy, and Classics at Westminster College; Jonathan Z. Smith is Robert O. Anderson Distinguished Service Professor of the Humanities and Associate Faculty in the Divinity School, University of Chicago; Florin Turcanu is a professor of political science at the University of Bucharest; Steven M. Wasserstrom is the Moe and Izetta Tonkon
Professor of Judaic Studies and the Humanities, Reed College.